SPI Insights

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the human population at 322.3 million on Dec. 31, 2015. That number has increased to an estimated 327 million as of Dec. 31, 2017. As the U.S. population increases, so does the need for healthcare facilities. Many state and county hospitals will consider partnering with a private firm or they may be forced to consider closing or selling the property due to lack of funding. Here is a look at some potential healthcare partnership opportunities.

The state of Michigan has approved a contract with a design firm to develop a new psychiatric hospital in Caro. The new hospital will be built on the same site as the existing state-run hospital. The design phase will start in early 2018. The new hospital has an expected completion date of 2021. The Caro Center is a regional state hospital for adults with mental illness. The new hospital is expected to accommodate 200 beds.

In New Mexico, the Grant County Commission has considered a healthcare partnership instead of a sale of the Gila Regional Medical Center. Gila Regional, which is owned by the county, lost around $5 million in 2015 and $4 million in 2016. A task force is exploring the different options and plans to make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners by the summer on whether a partnership is right for the hospital.

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) wants to build a hospital in Berkeley County, South Carolina. MUSC posted notice that they want a certificate of need from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to build a 312,000-square-foot, $325-million-dollar facility with 128 beds.

Ohio State announced in November that it is seeking design requests to build a new hospital tower. The hospital tower would add up to 840 private-room beds to the Wexner Medical Center and allow for the phasing out, or repurposing, of 440 beds in the aging Rhodes and Doan halls. The university is also fielding design requests for an ambulatory center that will have outpatient operating rooms, urgent care, a pre-anesthesia center and interventional radiology, among other services. The two new medical facilities add to the three health-science related projects for which the university is already seeking proposals. In total, the five projects will cost at least $2 billion.

The Hawaii State Hospital was built in Oahu 85 years ago and is need of repair. Some buildings need to be renovated, others torn down and replaced. Redevelopment plans include a new 144 bed patient facility that would be equipped with the latest technology to track and monitor patients. A 12-foot tall perimeter fence also would be built around buildings which house higher security patients. The new building would also be self-contained, so patients wouldn’t have to leave to get services.

The Legislature on Dec. 13 sent Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf a bill giving the state three years to sell Allentown State Hospital. The hospital, sitting on about 190 acres, closed in December 2010 after 98 years in operation. The state will negotiate the sale of this property, which was appraised last year at $2.57 million.

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